Anadolu Efes Istanbul reached the playoffs for the third time in five years last season as it remains a force to be reckoned with at the continental level. Thing started slow for Efes, but it soon became clear that new head coach in Velimir Perasovic knew how to inject his vision into a talented roster. The team lost its first three games, but a three-game winning streak boosted its record to 6-5 and a share of sixth place. Efes fell back again and at the two-thirds mark of the regular season, sat in ninth place at 9-11. Then came a pair of four-game winning streaks – including victories over eventual finalists Fenerbahce Istanbul and Olympiacos Piraeus – to not only storm into the playoffs but to climb to 17-13 and sixth place. Thomas Heurtel, who was chosen EuroLeague MVP for February, Derrick Brown and Bryant Dunston all excelled for Efes and gave the team hope for the playoffs. After a Game 2 win on the Road, Efes looked to finish Olympiacos off at home. However, in the most contested playoff series of all, the Reds staved off elimination in Game 4 and won the series at home. Efes was unable to capture a trophy at home, where it fell in semifinals, but the club as a whole took a step forward in the toughest edition of the EuroLeague to date and showed that it is not far from advancing to the Final Four for the first time in the modern era of the competition.

EuroLeague

SEASON

COMPETITION

RECORD

FINISH

2016-17

EuroLeague

19-16

Playoffs

2015-16

EuroLeague

13-11

Top 16

2014-15

EuroLeague

13-15

Playoffs

2013-14

EuroLeague

6-18

Top 16

2012-13

EuroLeague

16-13

Playoffs

2011-12

EuroLeague

6-10

Top 16

2010-11

EuroLeague

7-9

Top 16

2009-10

EuroLeague

6-10

Top 16

2008-09

EuroLeague

4-6

Regular Season

2007-08

EuroLeague

9-11

Top 16

2006-07

EuroLeague

10-10

Top 16

2005-06

EuroLeague

12-10

Playoffs

2004-05

EuroLeague

17-6

Playoffs

2003-04

EuroLeague

14-6

Top 16

2002-03

EuroLeague

12-8

Top 16

2001-02

EuroLeague

12-8

Top 16

TOTAL:

176-167

History

Anadolu Efes Istanbul was founded in 1976 and needed just three years to start collecting titles. Efes won its first Turkish League trophy in 1979 and made it to the EuroLeague quarterfinals group stage the following season. More Turkish League crowns came in 1983 and 1984, but Efes did not become a dominant club and a European contender until the 1990s, when it went on a glorious run and won the Turkish championship in five of six seasons through 1997 under the tutelage of head coach Aydin Ors. That's when Efes also put Turkey on the continental basketball map for good. In 1993, Larry Richard, Petar Naumoski and Ufuk Sarica took Efes to the Saporta Cup final, but Aris Thessaloniki escaped with a narrow win after Naumoski missed a close shot in the final seconds that would have forced overtime. In 1996, Efes became the first Turkish team to win a European title when Naumoski and Sarica joined forces with Conrad McRae and a young Mirsad Turkcan to lead Efes to the Korac Cup crown by downing Olimpia Milano in the finals. Efes soon became a EuroLeague regular and in 2000 the club achieved another first among Turkish teams by making the Final Four, a milestone it repeated in the 2001 SuproLeague with Hedo Turkoglu, Mehmet Okur, Predrag Drobnjak, Ibrahim Kutluay and Damir Mulaomerovic leading the way. Efes came within one shot of reaching the 2004 Final Four too, but was denied by Skipper Bologna’s Gianluca Basile. Efes was back dominating domestically during that span, in which it won four consecutive Turkish championships from 2002 through 2005. The club went on to reach the EuroLeague quarterfinals in 2005 and 2006 and lifted Turkish Cup trophies in 2006 and 2007. Efes did even better in 2009 by winning the Turkish League and Cup double, but had to wait until 2015 to lift another trophy – the Turkish Cup after beating archrival Fenerbahce in the final. Efes qualified for the EuroLeague playoffs in 2013, but lost to eventual champion Olympiacos Piraeus in a classic series in the maximum five games. Two years later, Efes lost 3-1 in the playoffs to that season's eventual champ, Real Madrid. Last season, Efes fell in the semifinals in the domestic league, but in the EuroLeague, the team reached the playoffs thanks to a sixth-place finish in the regular season. Its series against Olympiacos was the only one to reach Game 5 that season, but Efes eventually fell to the Reds. All in all, it was a solid season under new coach Velimir Perasovic, which will surely be the goal to match and surpass for the team in 2017-18.